Pre-Tim Burton Johnny Depp starred in the original television series 21 Jump Street, which revolved around young-looking officers of the law that infiltrated high schools and colleges as part of their crime-busting duties. A 23 year-old Hill successfully passed as the barely-legal Seth in Superbad and put his “youthful” voice to good use as an underage viking in this year’s How To Train Your Dragon – the age-defying trick is one that Hill’s arguably quite talented at.

Tatum has been a top contender to join 21 Jump Street for over three weeks now and is also known for playing characters beneath his actual age, in flicks like Step Up or Dear John. We’ll harbor a guess and say that Tatum will play the straight man of the duo, with Hill being the smart aleck of the pair (and based off their previous performances, we recommend the two not switch those roles around).

The cast of the original '21 Jump Street'.

21 Jump Street star and co-writer Jonah Hill says he envisions the adaptation as an “R-rated, insane, ‘Bad Boys’-meets-John-Hughes-type movie.” It’s been over two decades since franchises like Lethal Weapon and 48 Hours emerged on the Hollywood scene and gave us just that. With the exception of Michael Bay’s Bad Boys, there haven’t really been any other successful rules-be-damned onscreen cop duos since then (apologies to Cop Out fans, but… no). Could Tatum and Hill buck that trend?

Phil Lord and Chris Miller – who were previously in contention to helm the big screen version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – will occupy the directors’ chairs on 21 Jump Street. The two were also responsible for the surprisingly popular and generally well-regarded 3D toon Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, so maybe they’ll raise eyebrows again and deliver an entertaining ’80s show-turned movie.

What do you think? Does 21 Jump Street have potential with Tatum and Hill onboard?